kens 77z

Remaining items are getting the speedo to read correctly and getting a higher gearing to lower engine rpm at highway speeds plus raise the top speed. When I ran the car at Road Atlanta last weekend I was hitting about 110mph at about 5500 rpm (per a datalogger) before I was halfway down the straght. The car did not seem very stable at that speed so I never pushed it much past that. I have an electronic speedometer hooked up to the BMW sensor mounted on the left half shaft. Unfortunately it does not read steady long enough for me to do a proper calibration. I installed a shielded cable and shielded the sensor, but it still has problems. Here is a picture before I shielded the sensor. Another problem is the coolant temperature gauge. The BMW sensor for the 1996 engine is a dual sensor. the part that sends to the computer has resistance readings identical to the Z sensor, but the part going to the gaqge reads with a much higher resistance which to the gage means a cooler temperature. As a result, at normal operating temperature the gage needle never moves. I guess I will need to put a sensor somewhere else.

I swapped in an engine and transmission from a 1996 325I with the wiring and EWS1 computer and intake manifold from a 1993 325I. I did not lower the front cross memeber. The oil pan clears the steering rack clamp by about 1/4". I was trying for 1/2", but did not adequately account for the compression of the engine mounts. Since the engine torques the oposite direction, that tight clearance has not been a problem. The drive shaft is made up of the front half of the BMW drive shaft and the back half of the Z shaft. One slipped into the other snuggly. It was a little loose after I took the paint off. It is fine since I had it balanced. I got the length correct by bolting everything up and tack welding the two pieces together under the car. I raised the tail of the transmission until it clears the top of the tunnel about 1/8". The shift lever was modified as shown itn one of the photos. The aluminum part was spliced with JB weld. The lower steel part was welded. Rear Wheel Hp – 197-202 (3 runs) Torque – 210+/- Car weight No driver – 2603 maybe 4 gals short of full LF 648 RF 651 LR 636 RR 668 No driver - 2755 LF 701 RF 653 LR 699 RR 704

For the drive shaft I used the front part of the BMW drive shaft and the back part of the Z drive shaft. One slid inside of the other for a snug fit! When I sanded the paint off it was a little looser, but still fine. I attached the drive shaft in place and tack welded it and took it off and took it to a friend who can weld. Before welding after welding And here is my shifter extension, For the upper aluminum part I JB welded it using some threaded rod and some flat aluminum for splicing. For the lower part I welded a threaded rod in one end and a nut on the other. Now I can adjust the angle of my shift lever easily be removing a clip and turning the link in or out to change the length. More tomorrow.

I am about 90% done swapping a 2.8L 96 BMW328i engine in my 77 280z. I decided on the straight six M52 engine after reading RTz's thread. I liked the idea of retaining the straight six. I loved the sound of my Z engine. I chose the M52 over the S52 (M series engine) as it is considerably cheaper. I figure swapping a M50 manifold with the easier to deal with EWS1 computer system onto the M52 engine would give me close to 220hp which is about 60-70 hp more than my Z engine was making. Plenty for me. That will get me in enough trouble on track days. I fabricated my engine mounts out of 1/4" plate and 2" square tubing. It worked out fine except my welding is extremely ugly. It got a little better when I switched to gas shielded solid wire instead of the flux core. I only show these as examples as a way to fab engine mounts. Ignore the welds if you can. and here is the transmission mount. I used the ears off of the Z mount. I left the front suspension crossmember in the original location instead of lowering it like RTz. I did not want to mess up the steering geometry any more after lowering the car with shorter springs. With the engine sitting on a piece of 1/2" plywood on the steering rack and raising the transmission until the shirt mechanism cleared the tunnel by about 1/4", I measured the angle of inclination of the transmission output and the angle of the diff input and it read the same on my cheap Harbor Freight angle finder. Of course I stupidly fabbed the engine mounts with the engine in that position and when the plywood block wsa removed the enginee sank about 1/4". You would think a structural engineer wuld have anticipated that. I solved that with a3'8" thick, 2" diameter aluminum washers between the top of the rubber and the metal mount.

I looked at using a BMW diff, but it is wider than the Z diff and looked like a lot of trouble to swap. Summit has an adapter for the tach for $78.95. Not cheap, but cheaper than a new tach and much cheaper than the speedo converter. I may try a dash from pull-a-part. If I am lucky, I could even put replace the guts of the Z speedo with the BMW speedo. Fat chance.

So. I guess I need a new tach as well as a new speedo. For the speedometer am going to make a notched wheel bolted to one of the half axle flanges and use the BMW VSS to send the signal to an aftermarket electronic speedometer. I was hoping the Z tach could be run off of a signal from the BMW computer, but probably not. What tach did you use?

Since the engine runs off individual coils, where do you connect the tach?

That shift opening repair is beautiful work for something nobody is ever going to see! I did however paint my gas lines and brackets yesterday after I took them out. I am putting a M52 w/ M50 intake and electronics in my 77 280z. Since the fuel lines on the M52 are on the left side of the engine, I decided to move the fuel lines to the left side of the car so I would not have to cross the exahaust pipe. My engine is in without the wiring. I have completed the engine, transmission and shifter mounts and am working on rerouting gas lines and the exhaust. Then I will pull the engine and clean the engine bay and wire the engine up before putting it back in. It won't be a show car, but will be used on the road and for track days. Thanks to you and Ron (RTZ) for the inspiration. I won't have the hp you guys have, but with the M50 intake I figure I should be around 220 which is a big improvement over the 150hp of my 280z engine. It should be plenty for track days given my skill level.